IPL 2024: Little and Suthar come in as unchanged RCB win toss, elect to bowl first against GT

Bengaluru: An unchanged Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) won the toss and elected to bowl first against Gujarat Titans (GT) in Match 52 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday evening.

RCB are at the bottom of the points table with six points from 10 games. On the other hand, GT are in eighth place with eight points from 10 matches. The last time these two teams met in IPL 2024, a whirlwind century from Will Jacks and fifty from Virat Kohli helped RCB beat GT by nine wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

After winning the toss, RCB captain Faf du Plessis said his playing eleven is unchanged.

“We are going to chase. The conversation has been good. To make that shift from the beginning, that's pleasing. From a batting perspective, we have found our mojo. The guys can come in and bat freely,” he said.

GT skipper Shubman Gill said left-arm fast-bowler Joshua Little and left-arm spinner Manav Suthar, who is making his IPL debut, have come into the playing XI. Suthar, hailing from Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, picked 10 wickets in five games for India ‘A’ in the Emerging Men’s Asia Cup held in Sri Lanka last year.

He also played two games for India ‘A’ in this year’s four-day matches against England Lions in Ahmedabad. Little and Suthar come into the GT playing eleven in place of seam-bowling all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai and left-arm spinner R. Sai Kishore, who is nursing a niggle.

“The talk is to win four in four (remaining games). It's important to turn up and deliver our best. I feel our fielding has let us down. We have had a chat about it. We need to be a better team as a fielding unit, we have had a chat. IPL is such a long tournament. It's important to turn up on the day,” he said.

Playing XIs:

Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill (c), B. Sai Sudharsan, David Miller, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Manav Suthar, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma and Joshua Little

Substitutes: Sandeep Warrier, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Darshan Nalkande, B.R. Sharath

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Vyshak Vijaykumar and Swapnil Singh

Substitutes: Mahipal Lomror, Anuj Rawat, Suyash Prabhudessai, Akash Deep, Rajat Patidar